What is the stupidest thing you have done with a propeller.
rjo_
Posts: 1,825
Oldbitcollector... in citing one of my least favorable icons... has reminded me.
There are a lot of folks who have exactly the same reaction, when they visit the forum... shock and awe.
I honestly think that Parallax and friends are doing something entirely new... and it is just a little bit awesome.
So... I would like to challenge the faithful to publish their own personal demons...
To start it out... I just fried my demo board... by first finding that if I rubbed four batteries together ... just right...
I could get a servo motor to do something that my code couldn't... make the damned thing move.
I'm not going to bury my demo board because I think that the Prop survived... and as soon as I figure out some of Chip's code... I'll have it talking Cog to Cog with my surviving demo board...
So... What is the stupidest think you have done?
And if you could provide the total context of your experience to explain why that was so stupid...
Maybe the newbies won't feel so reluctant to ask what they think are silly questions.
Rich
There are a lot of folks who have exactly the same reaction, when they visit the forum... shock and awe.
I honestly think that Parallax and friends are doing something entirely new... and it is just a little bit awesome.
So... I would like to challenge the faithful to publish their own personal demons...
To start it out... I just fried my demo board... by first finding that if I rubbed four batteries together ... just right...
I could get a servo motor to do something that my code couldn't... make the damned thing move.
I'm not going to bury my demo board because I think that the Prop survived... and as soon as I figure out some of Chip's code... I'll have it talking Cog to Cog with my surviving demo board...
So... What is the stupidest think you have done?
And if you could provide the total context of your experience to explain why that was so stupid...
Maybe the newbies won't feel so reluctant to ask what they think are silly questions.
Rich
Comments
I mean, this thing is awsome; mind blowingly simple (must be: even I've had it spitting-out readings from a MEMSIC accelerometer to a TV!), and I'm not getting the time to play :SOB:.
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Cheers,
Simon
BTW: I type as I'm thinking, so please don't take any offense at my writing style
www.norfolkhelicopterclub.co.uk
You'll always have as many take-offs as landings, the trick is to be sure you can take-off again ;-)
Steve
Yep! A 30W zapper (if really well charged bat.) will do that.
Time for a hot iron and jumper wire to replace that trace.
Have done as choice 'moves' myself over the decades.
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Harley Shanko
h.a.s. designn
(Too much heat, too long from my soldering pencil, putting fingers where fingers shouldn't be.)
The propeller seems very hardened against hobby incidents... [noparse]:)[/noparse]
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The comments and code above are proof that a million monkeys with a million propeller chips *could* write Shakespeare!
All worked fine !! in TV screen....until I put the potentiometer on some of the extremes.
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Regards.
Alberto.
One of my Computer Science professors, who is, um, much more of a software guy than an electronics guy, asked me for advice about using the Propeller in class. He wanted to know whether the Propeller is fast enough to control two motors at once.
I said, "Sure, as long as you use some motor controllers. The Propeller's digital logic lines can't supply enough current to run a motor, and would burn up unless you use a motor controller."
Motor controllers have been central to my research for the past year, so I had a lot to say on the subject. I spent 20 minutes talking about them. Then I said, "Did you order motor controllers?"
He said, "Motor controllers? Sure! We have lot's of motor controllers."
A few months later he tells me the lab using the Propeller to control motors is going real well, except that the Propellers are getting very hot and stop working after a few minutes.
I said, "That's odd. Ordinarily the motor controller would isolate the Propeller fairly well."
He became very puzzled, "Motor controller? -?" (Like, "what's that?")
"OMG! Surely you're using a motor controller?"
"No we just hooked the motors up to the Propeller. It seemed to work."
This professor has been very supportive of me and my work. He is my mentor for the research program I am doing in robotics. He is a great guy and has really helped me in every way - I also sometimes wonder if he reads a damn thing I write. To be fair he doesn't have any electronics background but for goodness sake, he PRESENTED my research poster this spring while I was away. You'd think he'd might have read what was on it. Guess what the topic of the research poster had been?
Motor control.
Post Edited (Dennis Ferron) : 5/18/2007 1:29:44 AM GMT
After testing a circuit on the breakboard, desided to make a circuit board. Went to my local Radio Shark (that should be their name with those prices)
and pick up all the supplies to make it. Use Corel draw to make the layout and dip the my circuit design in the enchant. everything seeing to be going well
I attach all the parts and solder them. connected my finish product to my BS2 Homework Board. but nothing worked. Puzzled, and after close examination
found out that I did not reverse the image in Corel. Had to de-solder all the parts and mount them in the solder side... Ha, ha, ha.... is that stupid?
well I since re made the board, and all is OK. I guess it's OK, I am a newby.
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Fernando Gomez
revinc.us
gomez-rivera.com
Never compare yourself with anyone else, there will always be someone bigger·or·smaller·than you.
Your prof is my eigenuberudder... or whatever that term is... except I'm not so good on the code side of things... either[noparse]:)[/noparse]
I had some old micro servos... futabas... just sitting around... so I looked up all the "specs" and it seemed like they needed somewhere between 4.8 and 6 volts... so, put 4 AA's into a battery pack, checked the voltage and hooked it up to the servo... and then hooked the signal line to a pin on my prop... I figured the worst that could happen is that I would blow a pin .... right?
So... my code being suspect as usual... nothing seemed to work... I didn't have 32 servos... but I figured I could use the 32 servo code if I'd just comment everything in the parent object... except one call... at first the servo just went back and forth... but my servo didn't really care if it was set to 1 ms... 1.1 ms... 2.2ms etc.
So... then I picked up the battery pack... to see if it was getting ready to explode and my servo jumped... and I found that I could make it jump... just by pressing rotating the batteries in the pack... I was kind of tansfixed... rotating them together... and watching my servo jump[noparse]:)[/noparse]
and then my prop went dead...
I know your Prof can't answer my question...but do you have any idea what i did?
Rich
By the way... with price of Props... I think 5 minutes worth of motor control is a bargain[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Do we get frequent flying miles for blowing them up?
Don't you mean frequent fryer miles?
Maybe we should create a tri-color dunce cap with a propeller on top, just kidding.
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Paul Baker
Propeller Applications Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
(for both[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Rich
Decades ago as a young engineer, a board I was checking out wasn't quite working right. Suspected it might be a 'heat problem'. Didn't have access to an oven. Recalled a tech who had a 'heat gun'.
Well, not inquiring as to how MUCH heat it could generate, I had the board upside down in one hand, probe(s) going to a 'scope, and the heat gun in the other hand. Watching where the gun was pointed to the back of the board and one eye on the scope, I proceeded to heat the board.
Then laughter. I looked and saw the tech watching me. Asked "What's so funny?" "Components are dropping to the floor" was the reply.
Lesson. Those heat guns are really hot; hotter than hair dryers. Hot enough to melt solder. Well, I had to laugh also at my dumb plan. Chalk that up to being too green.
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Harley Shanko
h.a.s. designn
Rich
And I should know how to look at it myself... I've read all of the dead prop notices. ... but then again I read all about the 4.7K resistor too[noparse]:)[/noparse] In my own defense... I planned to plug it in the way I did... run the code and then immediately disconnect everything.
Thanks for your response. I'll wait for more propeller autopsy results... or go back and read through everything again.
For now I'm happy with my Bored of Eductation unit and my proto board...
By the way... if you are anxious to see 3D on your prop... hook up some rheostats in between the prop lines and the vid line and then run the graphics demo... the one with the star... and then play with the rheostats... I found a setting that makes it 3D with red and green glasses... which you can make with a printer and transparency paper.
Hope all is well with you.
Thanks,
Rich
Since you are one of the nicest guys around... Do me a huge favor. Before the Engineers get back in the AM... look at my question in the sticky on Spin for newbies.
I have looked at that and looked at that... I can't figure it out.
It has to be simple... so... it has to be important too!
Rich
And then I just let it run and watched it for months. I couldn't really understand the software very well, many of the objects were still being developed, and the book was yet to be published.
So I guess that is a bit dumb.
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"If you want more fiber, eat the package.· Not enough?· Eat the manual."········
If that is the stupidest thing you've done... I would be almost afraid to ask..."What is the smartest thing you've done with a propeller."
I'm thinking of becoming a Propeller repairman... [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Rich
Das blinken lights are always a hit! Must be something in the genes.
Some time after I got my demo board, I fired up one of the graphics demos, hooked it to a display and just let it run for a good long time, looking for crashes. Nothing happened! I will do this with some things as sort of a crude robustness test.
Before I did this, I was writing code and reading this forum to get some ideas for the thing. Ended up getting hammered in both personal and work life, so I just let it run...
I'll take it with me when travelling on business. The hotel TV makes for a quickie display, given you can get to the video input, or are willing to engage broadcast mode. The second time I did this, I plugged it in and heard a buzzing sound and nothing worked. Got a call, so I took it and ended up on the phone for about half an hour. Came back, realized I had left it connected to an AC adapter. Somehow, I ended up with both an AC and DC wall wart of almost exactly the same size! Of course, I ended up with the AC one for the trip [noparse]:([/noparse]
(I've a bigger DC one that I use now, just in case!)
Got home, connected the right adapter and everything was fine.
Normally, I'll just throw the goodies in my checked luggage. One time I had it in my carry on, and security pulled out the mess and asked a lot of questions. I did put it in a clear bag though! After some discussion, all was good, but that did bother me some. I can't be the only person who does this... Everybody looked at me like I was some psycho-geek!
Got over that, still carry the stuff I want to learn about, still sometimes put it in the carry on. Wanting to take advantage of dead time seems to trump the hassle!
Post Edited (potatohead) : 4/20/2007 3:52:23 PM GMT
Oh yeah, and solder componites around and conected to the prop with a non-ESD safe iron (opps, I forgot that 110v will travel along a trace and fry a pin). [noparse]:([/noparse]
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Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
Microsoft: "You've got questions. We've got dancing paper clips."
On the radio yesterday there was a story about a young apprentice who had to fit·small boxes of some sort into 45 cars for Telstra (our main phone company in Oz). Dont know what the boxes were for.
Apparently, when finished, the first car wouldnt start, and then they found that none would start.
The poor fella' had driven a mounting·screw straight through the foot kick panel, into the engine computer, in every one of the 45 cars.
So when you stuff something worth 50 bucks, dont stress, theres always someone out there feeling worse.
Cheers,
Chris,
Western Australia
I used protoboards to monitor the LEDs on the UPS as well as take battery voltage measurements. They will automatically switch between alternate feeds as well as completely bypass a malfunctioning UPS if needed. They also throw udf packets back and forth (using PINK) to inspect the trunk lines, check on each other, and to replicate the alarms (BIG sirens!) at each switch. The web pages served up by the PINKs also provide remote diagnostics....
At least they do now...
On the first try, I carefully assembled and checked each subsystem, monitoring all voltages. everything checked out and the connections to the UPS were made.
POW (Insert long echoing...)
I powered the protoboard from the 5v regulated supply fron the UPS.. I had made the ASSumption that, since the negative terminal of the batteries landed on the same 'ground plane' as the center terminal of the 7805 UPS regulator, that the whole thing was ground referenced.
The negative side of that 5v supply actually rides on 70v relative to ground!
Proto board, pink, AND UPS.. all toasted..
After long and somewhat profane self discussion, a new protoboard, PINK, a small switching supply and dozens of optoisolators were ordered.
This also ranks as a personal best, as the only time in 30 years that I've toasted EVERY component in an entire control cabinet at once!
BTW.. There are currently at least 45 Parallax product based projects either working, or under development in the plant. There is a maintenance code for 'Parallax Glue Logic'
I can't stop laughing... because I don't understand a thing you just said.
But... someday I will. I promise[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Rich
Words of wisdom given to me today by·Chris Savage (Parallax): "I always measure the output of new supplies before using them myself just to get an idea of how I need to rate any components they’re connected to."
Anyone want to bet that that statement could have been prefaced with: "After the fire, explosion, etc...."
Would that we could all learn this simple lesson from someone else, rather that having to learn it for ourselves the hard way.
Steve
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lets see what this does... KA BOOM (note to self do not cross red and black)
I wonder - what makes them tick?
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